Discord of Shadows
by Karukos
Summary: Young Zed is eaten up by jealousy, looking for a way to beat his eternal rival Shen... and the way he found changes his life more than he would have ever guessed.
1. Intro

Hello guys, this time I got a bit darker stuff for you and not only that, this is going to be my first multichaptered work. Hope you like it and review it. Critique is asked for!

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Moonlight was one way to hide in the shadows. Carefully a man sat one foot in front of the other, sliding his feet over the floor his feet so he would not make a single sound. He was careful, trying to avoid the noisy tiles in the parquet. Years of training had perfected his sneaking, and since he was on familiar ground he was basically undetectable. Zed was confident in his abilities, nobody could sense him now.

Slowly, he slid open a bamboo door and sneaked through another corridor until he stood in front of a large metal door, leading to the library of his clan. It had not been too hard to figure out where his master hid the keys. Not that it mattered; after all he knew he had to acquire knowledge, Shen had no clue of. Akali had given him the tip; she was the first to hear there were forbidden techniques inside of the library… she said it was just a rumor, but Zed believed it to be true… it had to be true. How else could he finally defeat his rival?

The metal of the key was warmed by his hand as he stood there motionlessly for a few moments. As he realized his short slack he quietly inserted the key in the slit before he heard a silent click, just enough to make it obvious that the door was unlocked. As quickly as possible he slipped into the library, closing the door behind him, but not without pulling the key off. He didn't want to be discovered after all.

His feet barely moved as he felt the thrill of adrenaline filling his blood. Yes, he was doing something forbidden, but for some reason it made him feel excited. He snapped back to reality when he realized he was not allowed to waste any time. He carefully sat one foot in front of the other, going farther and farther back into rows of books and scrolls with more and more advanced techniques… but he was not aiming for those. He was aiming higher!

The ninja in training scurried up to a small pedestal that he had observed before. The small box on it, ornate with several ancient looking figures, was the object of Zed's desire. All he wanted was in this box. He didn't know what it was exactly, but he guessed it was going to teach him how to finally beat Shen and make his master proud.

He tilted his head, going into a squat to get a different angle on the pedestal. Yes, from this point of view it was obvious where the traps were. Several small strings and two pressure tiles that were meant to be activate and alarm everybody as soon as he triggered even one of them. But since he knew about them now… well they wouldn't stop him now.

He memorized the traps as best as possible as he began to slither forward, carefully stepping over the first string. Before he set his foot onto the floor he made a little spin to the side not to land on the pressure plate, while also ducking under the second string. He was nearly there. Moving forward, he dodged the other tree pressure tiles and got over all the other traps they had prepared to protect what was hidden in the box on the pedestal.

The moment had come. Licking his lips in anticipation, he put his hand on the lid of the casket. It wasn't even locked to his surprise… well they probably thought that it was enough to have it behind so many traps. Zed chuckled as he took a look inside looking at the scroll that featured a faceless mask and red glowing eyes staring at him from the silver ornament.

Suddenly he felt a cold rush inside of him, as if somebody had switched out his beating heart with an ice block. It was a miraculous yet unsettling feeling. He knew, that something bad was about to happen, however he reminded himself to stay strong and determined. Since he was a child, he learned that danger was always a friend on his way to experience. However, as hard as he tried to stay strong he still felt icy in his chest and could swear he even heard a deep, sinister laughter in the back of his mind. And with that, a flash bleached his mind white for a moment as knowledge he didn't know existed streamed into his head, filling up with a new art. The Art of the Shadows.

His supernatural experience got interrupted when he heard a noise behind him; somebody was coming! He laid down the casket, carefully closing the lid, before he used his newfound knowledge, shifting into the shadows of the library. And as the door opened, Zed was no longer in there and his master stood inside of the empty room, murmuring: "I feel like something bad is about to happen."


	2. Revision

Hello there. Here is the first real chapter to my FF I hope you can enjoy it. Comment, follow, fav... whatever crosses your mind ^^

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When Zed reached his own room, he let out a sigh of relief. Yes, he had managed to get a glance, to get a bit of knowledge out of this little adventure. He felt a bit of regret in the depth of his heart, that he couldn't open the scroll properly so he would know all its secrets, but those things could be done at a later point.

Slowly he got undressed, before slipping in his bed with a smile on his features. The warm cotton of his blanket embraced him and he knew when he would wake up he would be greeted by something even warmer. The smile persisted on his face. From all things in this world, he wanted to share his experience with her. She gave him the idea; she should also know the results. Who knew? Maybe the next trip to the scroll in the library would be done with both of them.

With these thoughts in mind, he slowly slipped off into a dreamless sleep. The only thing persistent in his mind was the cold stare he felt before, when he opened the casket. And after an hour under its gaze he didn't feel uncomfortable by it anymore. It became… almost natural to see it. They were inhuman eyes, yes. But nothing of it seemed bad to him, despite its strange nature.

His thoughts about this subject were interrupted, gently, as he felt soft lips pressed against his own, a smile on his face as he slowly opened his eyes to see jade green eyes looking back at him, making his heart skip a beat. Just as their lips were about to part, Zed rose himself from his bed, kissing her once again, this time for longer. A bit breathless, but with a satisfying feeling in their guts, Zed and Akali sat across of each other, giving each other a silent "good morning" with their smiles.

Only after a short moment, however, they stood up, grabbing each other's hand before they sat out on the training grounds. It was not that their training would start soon, but that they wanted to be there early: Talking, laughing and exchanging today the news of yesterday. After all it was Akali's suggestion to look for the scroll in the library.

It was a beautiful morning as they walked through the corridors of the small mansion the clan was centered in. The surrounding mountains just held out the sun a little bit, its scarlet red beauty rising between their summits. Akali had mentioned it once in one of their long talks that she found the scenery of this place so romantic… and as cool as Zed at times tried to be, he had to agree with her in that point.

"So tell me, what happened yesterday? Since you are still here, I assume you weren't caught."

Until now Zed hadn't noticed that they were not talking yet, but since they nearly reached their destination he guessed they should talk, yes.

"Well, what should I say? I kinda succeeded and yet somehow I failed. I passed everything and took a glimpse at it but then suddenly I heard somebody coming and I had to flee before I could read it." He explained to his girlfriend. "It was quite strange though. I did not read it. Still I felt like I learned something from it by merely looking at it. It was a scary feeling, but yeah, and then I was interrupted as I just told you."

Akali looked at him a little bit bewildered, tilting her head as if she didn't fully understand what Zed was talking about. "So you didn't read, but you learned something from the scroll? How does that even work…?" He couldn't really answer the question so he just shrugged, letting her suffer in her confusion.

Zed sighed a bit before he continued: "Well, if you want I can show you what I learned. There was some pretty cool stuff as well." He was smiling cockily, trying his best to pose. He knew Akali was his now, but still… he wanted to impress her. It was natural he guessed but still…. Sometimes he noticed the traits of an awkward teenager inside of himself, even though he tried his best to act mature and coolheaded. A few people might say he was not very successful in it; however, he had a different opinion about that himself.

"So anyways… do you think you can actually beat him today?" Akali asked him smiling widely, leaning a bit towards him, and making the teenager grin his widest smile. "Of course, what did you expect?" He said with a chuckle. Akali made a turn, looking once over her shoulder, before she responded with sly expression: "I hope so. If so I got a reward for you tonight~"

Zed blinked a few times in surprise as he heard that. Was she serious? He just knew that his astonishment was obvious from the way Akali walked away with a giggle and a strut that showed off her, for a teenager, very well developed curves.

Taking a deep breath Zed knew that concentrating now would be hard. On which side was she on? He asked himself sarcastically. The smile on his face however showed off that he was more than happy about this offer. How could he lose now? With that motivation?

He slowly refocused on the upcoming fight, turning away from Akali that had sat down onto a bench on the sidelines while the boy began making several exercises to stretch himself and to activate his Ki.

After that was done he went into more fighting oriented practices, shadowboxing, going through different stances with quick punches that were quickly delivered into his imaginary target's stomach and high kicks to knock them out in the end. It was a style he developed himself… his whole pride was that not only he was the master but also creator of this way of ending a fight quickly. Not to forget that now it was added up with a few new little tricks from the scroll.

Twenty minutes later he was done with his short warm-up ready for the fight that was going to happen today. From afar he already saw his master approaching, the Eye of the Twilight… and with him, his son and Zed's eternal rival, Shen.

The ceremonial greeting this morning was over quickly, the pupils bowed before their master, swearing to learn and fight to maintain the balance of this world. After that they was a short introduction why Shen and Zed would have a practice fight again. Both of them wanted to show how advanced they had become in their form of fighting and who is going to take his place when it was about time.

Zed was uneasy the whole time. He didn't fully understand why his master had to make everything so formal. Who was he telling something new anyways? Maybe he wanted to remind them on why they were here? As if anybody could forget that. He nearly had let out a loud sigh as his master was still talking, his self-control however suppressing even the slightest hint of annoyance.

Looking to the side towards Shen he saw only cold eyes that stared straight forward. That was something that always had crept out Zed about his rival and comrade: His seemingly emotionlessness that bordered on carelessness.

As if he had noticed the son of the master looked back at Zed smiling at him with warm shining eyes. However, he knew, like anybody else, who saw this gesture, that this was nothing but fake. He never smiled from the depth of his heart. You could see it in his eyes that it never fully reached it.

Refocusing on the words of his master again Zed looked again straight forward until he got the sign that it was their turn to get into position. Stepping into the center of the training field, Zed and Shen faced off, their master watching together with Akali from the sidelines. As it was form, Zed folded his hands in sync with Shen before making a bow. Rising slowly, he took stance same as his opposite. As a sign that the fight should begin they made a step closer, bumping fists before jumping back into position.

There were a few quick punches thrown at each other from both sides, testing out their opponent. Was there any weakness they showed today they usually didn't? Zed felt more and more confidence. He got the feeling that he was definitely than stronger.

Of course Shen was also feeling it as well, the confidence that this man radiated. Something was off, everybody could feel it as the last testing blow was delivered. Everything happened pretty quick. Zed dashed forward, his movements rapidly quick:

His left hand shot forward only to be stopped shortly in front of Shen's arm that was lifted to defend himself. With a grin he took the momentum he had gained by stopping his punch to twist his whole body to make a punch towards his opponent's guts. It kind of angered him when he only hit thin air, Shen jumping backwards to avoid this blow.

Making a step closer Zed went into his knees before sweeping his back foot forward. He didn't even pay attention if his kick had thrown of Shen off his balance, instead he jumped off the ground his fist rosen to an uppercut.

Suddenly time moved slower than ever he could see how Shen struggled to avoid his attacks, however… he did avoid them. With anger he had to watch how his rival dived away from his fist, denying him once again victory over him. With his teeth pressed together he remembered what he learned yesterday. The knowledge he had hoped to bring him his win finally…

A short moment later he was suddenly closer to Shen again, repeating the same move. With confusion Shen just barely managed to dodge this attack, but now he was clearly off balance. A jab against his chest followed, finally pushing Zed's rival over. As soon as the teenager heard his opponent's shoulders hit the ground he knew that victory was his.

He could hear a gasp from the side of the training field. Akali had her hands over her mouth, being shock about what she just saw happen. And he knew she was happy for him as she jumped from the bench, running over to him and jumped into his arms. "You did it!" She squealed full of joy, making him smile like a dork.

For a short moment however he let her go, turning towards Shen who sat on the ground with his trademark smile on his face. Holding out his hand, Zed offered to pull up his rival into standing position and with a chuckle Shen accepted, petting his shoulder as he walked by. He could have sworn that he heard the other boy saying "Well done" before he turned back to Akali to plant a soft kiss onto her lips.

As he rose his gaze again, his eyes met with his master's and while he had hoped to see pride for his success he saw suspicion inside of them and, if he was honest, a little bit fear as well. The first thought that crossed his mind was, that he was angry that he had finally surpassed his son, that he was the strongest now. It only took him a few seconds to realize how stupid that was.

"You are dismissed for today. You two did a great job, but now it's time for you to rest a bit. We see each other tomorrow" explained their master, the look in his eyes still dead serious. Zed did not understand what was wrong. He felt Akali's arm stroke over his as she walked by whispering into his ear: "Wait for me, tonight. I will bring you your reward" Her voice was a purr and the small breaths of air made the teenager's spine tingle with anticipation. A small nod to show that he understood and then they were forced to part their ways.

The rest of the day was rather regular. Zed tried his best to focus but anticipation held him in constant unease. Just the thought of his "reward" made him blush and lose focus. Something that his teacher's scolded him several times for today. But he hardly could help himself.

And then the fateful night came. The teenager could hardly sit down and wait when the sun finally reached the horizon and the moon has risen to it's full beauty. Instead of making himself crazy he began taking a bit charcoal and a piece of paper to draw.

He was not the best artist but in the end he was fairly satisfied of this little drawing of the landscape outside of his window. He smiled, putting utensils aside. On the border of his hearing he could hear footstep, quick but yet trying to be soundless. He just wanted to open his door as it was ripped open.

Zed had expected a lot of things to come into his room. It was no big surprise to see Akali storming in and slamming the door shut behind her. What set him off more was the terrified look and the fact that she seemed out of breath.

"We have to go" She murmured, earning only a confused mien from Zed. Akali swallowed, wiping the sweat off her brow. "They found out…" She started to explain, now a bit calmer than before "They found out that you opened the casket."


End file.
